Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Most bang for the buck -- MLB team wins measured by total payroll

     Tampa Bay led the Majors in 2018 -- paying a mere $760,000 per victory, measuring by total team payroll. Oakland was the only other team below a million per win -- $827,000. Contrast that with the bottom of the barrel -- San Francisco spent $2.8 million per win -- almost four times what Tampa spent. The sad Baltimore Orioles spent $2.7 million per win.
    Contrast that with division champs like the Brewers -- who spent $1.13 million per win -- and the Braves, who came in at $1.45 million.
    The last place Marlins paid as much per win as the first-place Braves, but that's a bit misleading. According to spotrac.com (which I use because he keeps updating its payroll throughout the year), the Marlins spent a mere $43 million on players on their 25-man roster -- out of a total payroll of $91 million. The rest of that money? $16.5 million to injured players -- most of that going to Prado. A stunning $34.5 million was paid by the Marlins to players on other teams or out of baseball (led by Edison Volquez $13 million).
    For those interested in the team by team measures, it's attached as a spreadsheet.  You'll see that Cleveland, Colorado and Houston all made the playoffs while spending less than the MLB average of $1.7 million per win.




Payroll Wins $Million / Win
Tampa Bay 68.4 90 0.76 1
Oakland 80.3   97  0.8272 2
Pittsburgh 90.8 82 1.10731707317073 3
Milwaukee 108.9 96 1.134375 4
Chicago WS 71.8 62 1.15806451612903 5
Philadelphia 104.3 80 1.30375 6
Atlanta 130.5 90 1.45 7
Miami Marlins 91.8 63 1.45714285714286 8
Minnesota 115.5 78 1.48076923076923 9
Cincinnati 100.3 67 1.49701492537313 10
San Diego 99.8 66 1.51212121212121 11
Cleveland 142.8 91 1.56923076923077 12
Colorado 144 91 1.58241758241758 13
Houston 163.5 103 1.5873786407767 14
League average 139 81 1.71604938271605
Arizona 141.7 82 1.7280487804878 15
NY Yankees 179.6 100 1.796 16
Seattle 160.9 89 1.80786516853933 17
St. Louis 163.8 88 1.86136363636364 18
NY Mets 150.2 77 1.95064935064935 19
Detroit 130.9 64 2.0453125 20
Chicago Cubs 194.3 95 2.04526315789474 21
Toronto 150.9 73 2.06712328767123 22
Texas Rangers 139.8 67 2.0865671641791 23
Boston 228.5 108 2.11574074074074 24
LA Dodgers 199.6 92 2.1695652173913 25
LA Angels 173.8 80 2.1725 26
Washington 181.2 82 2.20975609756098 27
Kansas City 129.9 58 2.23965517241379 28
Baltimore 127.6 47 2.71489361702128 29
San Francisco 205.6 73 2.81643835616438 30